If you are lucky enough to land an interview for a job you want, don’t blow it all before you even get a chance inside. Here are some truths that might seem to be self-evident, but people sometimes take stupid pills and do these things. You shouldn’t. Avoid the following behavior. This means you!
Flirting with Staff.
If you are a guy, don’t flirt with the female receptionist or assume you can call her by her first name just because you are all dressed up and looking cute. Ms, or Miss or Mrs, whatever, is the proper way to address a woman you do not know. (Not Mrs. Whatever. You know what I mean.) If you are a woman, don’t flirt either, even if you see someone you might like to know in the waiting room. Find a way to speak afterwards if you can, but don’t blow your interview. Besides, you might even be flirting with the person who will be interviewing you and not even know it.
Telling Too Much, Telling Too Little
Don’t tell your life story to whoever is handling the reception desk. They don’t care why you are early, late, on time, or how qualified you may be for the job for which your interview is scheduled. Be pleasant and announce your purpose, sit down, be quiet and wait until your name is called.
Even if you are nervous, don’t just enter the office and sit down. People do need to know who you are and why you are there. Do not pillage through your bag or portfolio for papers or make a lot of noise chewing gum or being boisterous in any way. I once knew of a lady who emptied out her pocketbook on the magazine table and re-sorted everything while waiting to hear her name called. Of course, she hadn’t finished when her time came, and she awkwardly had to shove everything back in, missing some things that were her own and including others that were not. Another man, in order to kill time, was telling dirty jokes in the waiting room of an office. Are you surprised to hear that he didn’t get that job?
Use your common, not common and even call up your non-nonsense, for it will put you in your place. You are applying for a job and the circus won’t be hiring until next spring. Behave yourself!
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“The Art of The Interview: Some Things Not To Do”